Keeping It Real

By SCOTT McLEMEE

Strip mined by historians and abandoned by literary scholars, American literary realism deserves another look

A teenager from a respectable, if by no means prosperous, family stands in front of the bathroom mirror, smoking a cigarette with an air of practiced insouciance. His composure is unaffected by the worry that his parents will catch him. Studs Lonigan wants to be a tough guy. As he works at the pose his thoughts roam across the entire world, or as much as he will ever know of it,